Geneva Pongu Thamil expects more than 10,000 participants

[TamilNet, Monday, 05 April 2004, 11:08 GMT]In a press conference held at Hotel Warwich in Geneva at 11.15am today, the organizers of Pongu Thamil (Tamil uprising) said that they expect around 12000 participants in the rally set towards UN Buildings in Geneva from the Railway station of Geneva. Because of the tightened security due to the recent terror-attacks in Europe, the organizers expect delays for participants from various parts of Europe arriving at the venue, sources in Geneva said.

Busses packed with participants have started to arrive from many European countries, as the press conference was concluding, sources said.

Rev. Fr. S. J. Immanuel chaired the Press conference. Mr. E. Kousalyan, the head of the LTTE's political division for the Batticaloa Amparai district, Mr. Sivagnanam Karikalan, a senior leader of the Liberation Tigers from the east, Mr. V. Rudrakumaran, an attorney based in New York, U.S, who represented LTTE in the peace negotiations, Mr.K.Sithambaranathan, Senior Lecturer from the University of Jaffna, Sri Lanka, Mr. Anton Ponraja, the coordinating secretary of Switzerland Federation of Tamil Associations participated in the press conference.

A number of press organisations including mainstream news
agencies were present in the News conference.

Mr. Sithambaranathan, one of the organisers of the Pongu Thamil explained how the concept of Pongu Thamil emerged from the youth organisations in North East universities.

Mr. Kousalyan said that by giving an unprecedented 90% of their votes to TNA, they have cleary expressed the Tamil national consiousness and given their unified voice for the sovereignity of Tamils. This is also mandate for the leadership of the LTTE and the ISGA proposals it has submitted.

Mr. Karikalan in his speech said that they will also explain the current situation in the East to the Tamils in Diaspora.

At the end, Mr. V. Rudrakumaran responded to various questions regarding the current political situation and LTTEs stand with regards to resuming the peace negotiatons at the end of the press conference.